Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Semillon on January 16, 2011, 10:56:31 pm

Title: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: Semillon on January 16, 2011, 10:56:31 pm
Very interested in both artistic and technical feedback on the following shot, a bus stop at sunrise in Adelaide, Australia.
(http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2870/crw6377.jpg)
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: ronkruger on January 16, 2011, 11:14:49 pm
Interesting shot. Bring the right side up until the road is level at bottom of frame.
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: Semillon on January 16, 2011, 11:40:20 pm
Interesting shot. Bring the right side up until the road is level at bottom of frame.

Sorry I do not quite understand this - do you mean crop the road out of the image?
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: ronkruger on January 17, 2011, 12:29:52 am
Not necessarily, but the image looks tilted, with more road showing on the right than on the left.
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: RSL on January 17, 2011, 08:35:23 am
Sem, There's nothing wrong with the picture, and you can't really do in Photoshop what Ron's suggesting without creating a distorted monstrosity. Your verticals are vertical, so the shot looks as if you shot at an angle down the street, which is what you did. Technically there's nothing wrong with it.

I like the sharp light in the picture but it strikes me that it's too bright and friendly to give me the feeling I think you were trying to convey. How about this as an alternative?

I may have clipped the low end a bit too much.

Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: Bruce Cox on January 17, 2011, 09:34:19 am
I line verticals on the edge of the frame in wide angle shots sometimes, but here with a flatter image and people mentioning it, I would straighten the middle verticals.  Your color is good, but I like RSL's better.      Bruce
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: Semillon on January 17, 2011, 05:47:16 pm
Thanks RSL + Bruce, I appreciate the time taken to provide visual suggestions.

RSL: Out of interest, what feeling did you think I was trying to convey?

FYI Adelaide is bright, spacious, welcoming, and slow paced, more like a large country town than a city.

To be really honest, I just liked the look of the soft (by Australian summer standards) morning light spilling across the building but was struggling to find a pleasing composition. I have always found street photography very challenging - I like the older architecture and natural aspects found in some cities but have rarely been interested in the modern clutter.

At first I was annoyed that the bus stop was getting in the way of taking a nice photo of the building with lovely morning light on a tree lined street. In the end I thought that since we are in a modern city, I should focus in a bit more on the detail of said city, and thus took a snapshot you see above. I am pleased with the result since I felt it was a step forward, but obviously I am only just starting out in photography and have much to learn.
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: RSL on January 17, 2011, 07:43:21 pm
I line verticals on the edge of the frame in wide angle shots sometimes, but here with a flatter image and people mentioning it, I would straighten the middle verticals.  Your color is good, but I like RSL's better.  The first file is in Mac bit order, the second in PC.   Bruce

Bruce, Tif's don't work on here. My browser tried to open your pictures in Photoshop CS5, but with serious security warnings. You need to convert to .jpeg and sRGB or grayscale.

Sem, The feeling I thought you were trying to convey is the one I get from the B&W.
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: Bruce Cox on January 17, 2011, 08:23:23 pm
Bruce, Tif's don't work on here. My browser tried to open your pictures in Photoshop CS5, but with serious security warnings. You need to convert to .jpeg and sRGB or grayscale.

Sem, The feeling I thought you were trying to convey is the one I get from the B&W.
  OK, here is a jpg.  I was trying to degrade your image as little as possible; I am sorry if it was impractical.  Bruce
Title: Re: Adelaide City Sunrise
Post by: Bruce Cox on January 17, 2011, 10:42:46 pm
As an alternative you could consider the bus stop and the trees to be as important in defining the space as the building and process or expose to favor them a little more.  Using the original file you should be able to come up with better color than my attachment.  Bruce